


Worth It

by MissCricket



Series: Overwatch Pern AU [1]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey, Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Pernese Dragons, Dragonriders of Pern AU, Impression (Dragonriders of Pern), Jack is Weyrleader, Jesse is confused, Multi, Pern (Dragonriders of Pern), Weyrs and Weyrlings (Dragonriders of Pern), gabriel is frustrated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-29 00:41:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16253099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissCricket/pseuds/MissCricket
Summary: Jack sends Gabriel to help some Holders clear out a band of Holdless. Gabriel picks up a stray along the way...





	Worth It

**Author's Note:**

> I'm an avid fan of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern, the world she creates is incredible. That being said I have taken some major liberties here with her world.
> 
> 1\. The Dragonrider names in the series are elided, for instance Gabriel would become G'briel, Reinhardt, R'hardt. In this I've kept the names as is...it's easier to read, less confusing for the casual Pern fan and yeah...sorry die hard Perners.
> 
> 2\. Thread fell out of Turn, Pern was massacred and now they are rebuilding...naturally this means there will be small changes to both Overwatch Canon and Pernese Canon.
> 
> Relationships are currently up in the air, I'm considering my options. Fortunately with Pern...you can have a lot of them! yay Dragon mating flights!

_Long ago man flew through the stars and landed on Pern._

_It was a one way trip the colonists took, determined to get away from the hyper-technological societies of the inner systems of space, and forge a new, simpler, and more agrarian life for themselves on a planet all their own._

_Pern was everything they could want, lush and verdant, full of life and possibilities and for many years they lived in peaceful happiness._

_Until the Red Star shone bright in the sky, and one day, Thread began to fall._

_It was like rain, terrible sleets of rain. Except instead of water, ribbons of fleshy organisms fell from the sky. Where they landed they consumed everything organic in their way, be it plant, animal or human. Many died, others were burned by close calls as the organism brushed by and the simple colony fell into chaos._

_There weren’t many options. They were too far to call for help, and even if they did, none of them wanted the ruthless corporations of the inner systems to get their fingers into Pern. Their technology was limited, and failing after so many turns, the Pern version of years, of use._

_Desperate, the colonists poured their remaining resources into the work of the last geneticist on the planet. Her plan was to alter the DNA of the tiny native creatures that resembled Terran dragons. From them she created huge beasts, capable of flying through the air and searing Thread with their fiery breath, able to escape danger by blinking in and out of existence by teleportation. They would jump and for a few seconds they would be in the void of nothingness, cold, nothingness with no feeling, that the new riders called, Between, before they burst out to where they imagined themselves going._

_The baby dragons were designed to bond to a human rider, to be so empathically entwined that the loss of a rider would make a dragon disappear between, lost forever in that endless void. The loss of a dragon left a human inconsolable. Some went mad, many killed themselves, and others survived…but never really recovered the part of themselves that was lost. It was this close bond that enabled them to fight as one, humans and dragons, to defeat Thread, and save Pern._

_Thread fell for 50 turns and then for 200 turns there was peace. They called it the Interval, knowing that Thread would return.  And it did._

_For thousands of turns Thread fell in this pattern, and the Dragons, living in their Weyrs, rose to fight it._

_Until suddenly one turn, Thread fell early. Decades too early._

_Pern was decimated, the Weyrs massacred. No one was ready, no one was prepared. And out of the chaos and the brink of annihilation two young Riders from Fort Weyr stepped up and organised the fight back._

_Together with their Weyrling class and the remaining ragged remains of the Wings, the two saved Pern once more..._

_Now Thread has stopped falling once more…but they know it will return._

 

* * *

 

“And you want this done today?” Gabriel scowled at his Weyrleader, who had the grace to look at least a little ashamed, “For Shells sake Jack, it’s a rest day.”

 

Neither of them wanted to mention the fact that the Clutch of dragon eggs on the sands of the Hatching Ground were hard, or that that fact probably meant they were going to Hatch in the next day or so.

 

It was always an emotional moment for the Weyr, which everyone always made an effort to attend, from the lowliest Drudge to the Bronzeriders themselves. Jack sending Gabe and his Wing off to conduct this business today of all days was almost an insult.

 

“Sorry Gabe,” Jack sighed, leaning back in his seat and Gabriel felt his bronze dragon huff in the back of his mind, annoyed on their behalf, “I really can’t delay this…even for a day or two. These Holdless are slippery. The Lord Holder of Igen has been raging about them for at least the last turn. We have a chance to end this now…”

 

Holdless were often a problem, though they were often disorganised and easily dealt with by the Lord Holders. They were troublemakers exiled from the safety of the Holds, abandoned by society. It was a drastic move to make someone Holdless, and so they were usually only the worst sorts.

 

Though sometimes their families went with them.

 

Gabe hated that.

 

Back before the First Fall Disaster, Igen Weyr would have been dealing with this issue, Gabe thought uncharitably, before sighing.

 

Out of the six Weyrs of Pern, only two had survived the initial Fall, and the ragtag riders left over had joined the two that remained. And Telgar…well…they’d severed all ties, and turned completely isolationist. Except to cause trouble.

 

Sharding Telgari.

 

“You could send someone else…”

 

Jack sighed again.

 

It was his tired sigh. His exhausted, strung out sigh.

 

And Gabe suddenly felt like a complete asshole.

 

“I could…” Jack admitted wearily, “I could send someone else. And they wouldn’t do as good a job as you would. I know you want to be here for the Hatching Gabe…”

 

“I’ll handle it.”

 

Nothing made Gabe back down faster than Jack admitting he needed him.

 

Fortunately, Jack seemed unaware of the power he had, and just smiled tiredly. “I’m sure you’ll be back in time.”

 

And Gabe gave him a small salute before disappearing out the door.

 

* * *

 

As the Lord Holder had known would happen, as had Jack for that matter, the instant the full Wing of Dragons appeared out of Between above the ragtag base of Holdless, they completely fell apart.

 

Dragons naturally instilled a fear in humans, especially not those familiar with the Weyr or its occupants. Most of the men and women below would have never even seen a dragon, and the fear of getting seared by dragon flame would be almost overwhelming.

 

Little did they know that dragons had an aversion to hurting humans, and would never use firestone against them.

 

Although some of them found the panic kind of amusing.

 

((Spread out,)) Gabe relayed through Reyesath, who broadcast the command to the rest of the Wing, ((Make sure no one makes a run for it.))

 

Even if one of the Holdless managed to mount a runner, the beast would balk at the presence of a dragon. Even now, he could hear the frightened neighing of the beasts below. There would be no escape on Runnerback, but better to be thorough.

 

Slowly he lowered his Bronze dragon to land, and the Lord Holders guards moved through to detain them.

 

Clean. Easy. Simple.

 

Maybe he _would_ make it back in time for the Hatching.

 

* * *

 

Most of the Holdless were rough and ruthless types. The charges against them were severe, and those who had warrants against them, were taken into Hold custody for punishment.

 

The operation was going smoothly, so smoothly Gabe was getting tempted to leave the Hold folk to it and take his dragons home for the celebrations when Lark’s green dragon suddenly crooned.

 

His head swivelled around to stare at her, as did Reyesath, but the green dragon’s attention was fixed unerringly on a small group of prisoners yet to be processed.

 

((Belagoth says one of the prisoners would make a good Candidate…)) Reyesath’s voice sounded intrigued, ((She’s not sure which one, they’re all too smushed together.))

 

Smushed was definitely the term used by Lark.

 

She was one of the youngest in his Wing, only 13, Impressing to her green Belagoth at her first Hatching as a Candidate. But in the months since her graduation, Belagoth had proven herself a masterful Search dragon, picking out potential dragonrider Candidates with uncanny accuracy. Some dragons just had the knack, and it seemed Belagoth was one of them.

 

She hadn’t been wrong yet.

 

And with such a lack of both Dragonriders and young people to stand on the Sands for Candidacy, Gabriel would be a fool to ignore her now.

 

“Wait.” He called out, as the group began to shuffle away towards the carts that would transport them back to the Hold, “Let me see them.”

 

Slowly the prisoners were spread out to the full extent of the chains, and Belagoth leaned in, her green nose nudging a few terrified chests before she slowly leaned her head against a lad, barely a teenager, and nudged gently.

 

((Belagoth says he is the one,)) Reyesath’s voice conveyed slight scepticism, but he too knew that Belagoth had yet to be wrong, ((What are you going to do?))

 

What was Gabriel going to do? The kid was a criminal, one of the Holdless that had been terrorising the local Holds.

 

But he was just a kid…too young to have committed any crime himself to become Holdless…how had he ended up here?

 

((Gabriel…))

 

“Untie him.” He ordered, pointing at the kid Belagoth still had her nose resting against. He was white with terror, but still held his ground, which said a lot for him, in Gabe’s books, “He’s coming to the Weyr.”

 

The Holders looked sceptical but they weren’t going to argue with a dragonrider, especially not a Bronzerider…especially not THIS bronzerider.

 

((Morrisoth’s will not be happy…)) Reyesath pointed out softly, ((He won’t accept him into Candidacy.))

 

Gabe’s stomach sank. His dragon was right….Jack was a bit of a snob when it came to accepting children who weren’t Weyrbred. No way would he accept this scruffy Holdless lad.

 

“Has the Hatching begun?” he asked his dragon silently inside his head.

 

((No. But it will be soon. Amarith is humming.))

 

If the Queen dragon was humming then that meant the babies would hatch soon. Soon all the dragons would hum and everyone would flood to the Hatching grounds…

 

The idea was crazy…even he knew it was crazy but…

 

((Are you sure?))

 

No he wasn’t sure, but looking at the scrap of humanity before him, shoulders hunched, thin like he hadn’t enough food, and defiance gleaming in dark eyes…he was almost sure.

 

((Belagoth’s likes your idea.)) Reyesath informed him with a sigh, ((You’d better talk to him.))

 

Of course Lark liked the idea; he shot the 13 year old girl a sharp glare, and only got an innocent blink back in response.

 

Brat.

 

Slowly he stepped forward and the boy’s dark eyes snapped up to him, bound fists lifting, even as Reyesath growled a warning.

 

“What’s your name?” Gabe asked, keeping his voice as even as possible, hands slightly raised.

 

The kid stared at him, uneasy.

 

“What’s it to you?”

 

Gabriel glared.

 

“Listen,” he growled, even as Reyesath chuckled in the back of his head. Sharding dragon, “I could send you off with those other louts right now…or you could be civil and tell me your name.”

 

The kid hesitated a moment longer, but Belagoth crooned again, her eyes swirling with gentle blue tones, and he ducked his head.

 

“Jesse.”

 

Progress.

 

“And how did you end up here Jesse?”

 

The boy glanced at him again, and then at the array of riders and dragons grouped loosely behind the big bronze beside Gabriel.

 

“My dad was made Holdless…mum went with him.”

 

And so had Jesse.

 

Gabriel sighed. He’d figured as much.

 

No Hold kicked out someone so young. Even for a truly heinous crime.

 

“What do you know about the Weyr, Jesse?”

 

The scrap shrugged, “Dragons live there.”

 

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose.

 

Reyesath’s laughter was louder now.

 

“And what do you know about Dragons?” he asked, keeping his tone even.

 

“You fight Thread. Keep Pern safe.” Jesse shrugged, “Not sure what this has to do with me…”

 

“What colours of dragons are there Jesse?”

 

“Bronze, Brown, Blue, Green and Gold.” The boy answered promptly, before rolling his eyes, “Everyone knows that.”

 

Gabriel heard a choked off giggle from the left, and scowled.

 

“Then you know that Greens and Blues are the smallest and fastest. Browns next followed by Bronzes and Golds as the largest?” He arched an eyebrow, “You know that Greens and Golds are female, but only Golds lay eggs? That the fighting force of the Weyr is made up of Wings, containing a maximum of 30 riders?”

 

Jesse’s mouth turned mulish.

 

“Knew some of that…Still not sure what it has to do with me.”

 

Gabriel sighed again.

 

Shells, was he really doing this?

 

Apparently so.

 

“You have a choice,” Gabriel waved his hand at the green close beside the boy, “Belagoth here is a talented Search dragon. She has a knack of spotting out young men and women who have the potential to be Dragonriders. Not everyone can be…not everyone has that…ability. But you do. So you have a choice.” He folded his arms, knowing exactly how intimidating he looked, “Either you come with us, accept the Search we’re offering you, and the chance to become a dragonrider…or…you rejoin your pals on those wagons…and we’ll never mention this again.”

 

Jesse laughed, before the sound choked off as he realised the man before him was serious.

 

“Serious? Me? A….A dragonrider?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Every kid on Pern dreamed of being selected by a dragon, and it seemed that this one was no exception…as his mouth dropped open and hope brightened his eyes…before he closed off again.

 

“How can I trust you?”

 

“You can’t.”

 

“Doesn’t sound much like a fair deal to me…”

 

Gabriel stared at him, completely impassive.

 

Jesse squirmed.

 

“You’re….you’re not joking? I’d be a Dragonrider?”

 

“It’s not a guarantee.” Gabriel shook his head, “But Belagoth here has never been wrong. At the very least you’ll be able to start a new life there.”

 

Jesse hesitated for only a moment more.

 

“Okay.”

 

* * *

 

It didn’t take long for them to be ready to go, but even so, as Gabriel climbed up in front of Jesse on Reyesath’s back, his dragon murmured quietly in his head, ((The Humming has begun, we must move swiftly.))

 

Shards they were cutting it fine.

 

“Ready?” He asked the boy behind him and felt him nod agreement, “Excellent.”

 

The bronzerider punched the air, and around them the 24 different dragons crouched and then leapt into the air.

 

“Holy shit!”

 

Gabriel laughed at the expletive behind him savouring the whoosh as Reyesath’s mighty wings pumped them skyward. He glanced back once before turning back. Jesse’s eyes were alight, and the flush on his cheeks was from excitement, rather than pale from terror.

 

Good.

 

The Wing hung in the air, high above the dismantled desert hideaway, and then Gabriel gave the signal, picturing Fort’s Weyrbowl to his dragon and they blinked out of existence.

 

Nothingness. Pure cold nothingness.

 

He couldn’t even feel Reyesath below him or Jesse behind him. There was…nothing.

 

((We are always together.)) Reyesath murmured, and then they burst out once more, appearing high above Fort Weyr, hundreds of miles away from where they’d been just moments before.

 

“Holy shit…” Jesse whispered, and his icy hands gripped Gabriel’s flight jacket, “What was that?”

 

“That was _Between_.” Gabriel murmured, as the dragons spiralled down, the bronze faster than the rest, “That space between here and there.”

 

“Fuck…you go there often?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“Shells…”

 

Reyesath landed with a thump on the shelf of their weyr, and Gabriel slid off with practiced ease, undoing Jesse’s straps and dragging him with him.

 

“Quickly, shed those clothes.”

 

“I’ll be naked!”

 

A white robe whacked into his face.

 

“Put that on, idiot.”

 

Jesse scowled but Gabriel pretended not to notice. He also pretended to be absorbed in rifling through a chest while the boy shed his clothes and shrugged on the white Candidate robe. He was a little older than he’d thought, perhaps around 15 or 16 turns, but he was horribly malnourished and completely grubby.

 

Gabriel winced.

 

He didn’t have time to get the kid completely cleaned up as he was supposed to be before the Hatching. He could feel that deep bone vibrating hum echoing throughout the Weyr, welcoming its newest inhabitants. The eggs would be Hatching now…

 

The bronzerider swore and ducked into his washroom, grabbing a cloth which he wet, and then proceeded to roughly scrub the worst of the blood and grime from the boy’s face.

 

Jesse, predictably, struggled.

 

“Gerroff!”

 

He was no match for Gabriel’s strength, size or determination though, and a few moments later he was released, fuming and flushed, but relatively clean, at least on the face.

 

It would have to do.

 

“Come on.” He reached out and yanked the boy back to Reyesath who was chanting an incessant and annoying ((Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry.)) in his ears, and shoved him up before flinging himself on after, “Go!”

 

Reyesath took off and Jesse yelped, clinging to Gabriel, this time not strapped into the harness as they flew low across the weyrbowl and into the Hatching Cavern.

 

The huge bronze lowered, hovering just above the sands for a moment as Gabriel deposited the shocked and suddenly frightened teen on the Sands with the other white robed teens.

 

“Wait!”

 

“They sense fear.” Gabriel warned him, as Reyesath prepared to take off, “You can do this…”

 

“WAIT!”

 

Reyesath took off, unable to wait any longer, as he felt the Gold at the end of the ground’s patience reach its limit. The pair landed in the stands and Gabriel moved down towards the front, where most of his wing was gathered.

 

“We’re taking bets,” one of his newer blueriders said, his lip curling. Gabriel didn’t much like this kid, fresh out of the Weyrling barracks, who thought anyone not from the Weyr was somehow not as good as a Weyrborn kid, “I think he’ll be left.”

 

Lark glared at him, “Belagoth believes in him.”

 

“Every Search dragon is wrong sometime.”

 

Gabriel rolled his eyes.

 

Bets trickled in, mostly for blue dragons, some for greens, one or two laughingly for bronze or brown.

 

Gabriel however didn’t say anything.

 

Baby dragons, ungainly and out of proportion were stumbling out of their eggs, frightened and alone for the first and hopefully only time in their lives.

 

It always brought a lump to his throat, not that he’d ever tell anyone else that, imagining that terrible loneliness, the fear of not finding the person who would complete them. The dragon babies would search for a complimentary personality, someone who would complete them. And most of the time, almost every time, they would do so.

 

But every so often…rarely thank the Sands…a baby dragon couldn’t find someone to match them…not among the candidates…or among the people watching. The baby, broken hearted, would disappear and die _Between_ , lost forever.

 

Those were the worst.

 

Gabriel couldn’t stand those.

 

These babies however staggered across the Sands, ungainly, frightened, reaching out mentally for the Candidates, seeking that connection, that bond.

 

((Morrisoth’s is coming,)) Reyesath relayed, sounding concerned, ((He’s not happy. He wants to know about Jesse.))

 

“Do not tell him,” he ordered his dragon silently.

 

((I won’t…but Morrisoth says he wants to order him off the Sands.”

 

Shells!

 

Gabriel’s head snapped towards Jesse, standing with the other Candidates, as the baby dragons came closer, the frightened creels turning into happy croons and hungry cries, as they dashed forward into the suddenly welcoming arms of their lifemates, the bond forming between them.

 

Jesse wasn’t one of them.

 

“Shells!”

 

“GABRIEL!” Jack’s voice boomed from nearby.

 

“Shards!”

 

His wing shot him sympathetic look and a few shuffled to slow Jack’s progress to his Weyrsecond’s side.

 

But eventually he got through, fuming.

 

“Who the _sharding_ heck is that on my Hatching Sands Gabriel?”

 

“Jesse.”

 

He knew he was being obstructive, but his gaze was locked on the boy, willing him to Impress to a dragon…and quickly. If he was Impressed….bonded…Jack couldn’t do shit.

 

Jack’s breath whistled out his nose, as it only did when Gabriel was being ultra-exasperating.

 

“Gabriel, I sent you to clean up Holdless…not Search.”

 

Suddenly Jack tensed beside him and Gabriel winced. Jack was smart….too smart. He had picked it up too fast.

 

“ _Gabriel_ …” He winced again, “Tell me he isn’t one of them. Tell me you didn’t Search him out of pity. _Tell me you didn’t bring a dangerous Holdless onto my Hatching Sands_!”

 

They were my Hatching Sands first, Gabriel thought, unable to help himself, and ignored his Weyrleader.

 

“GABRIEL!” Infuriated Jack turned and found the Captain of the Weyrguards close by, “Get him off the Sands!”

 

“No!” Gabriel twisted.

 

The Captain was gone, and Jack was glaring at him with fury in his blue eyes.

 

Gabriel turned back, looking for Jesse and found him among the remaining Candidates as the last three dragons staggered forward.

 

A green and a blue lunged forward and met their partners with joy.

 

One dragon left.

 

Gabriel’s gut sank.

 

And then the baby dragon tripped.

 

The other Candidates all lunged back, afraid of the talons and the ungainly jaws but Jesse darted forward to catch the crying creature, tangled in his over long wingsails.

 

The baby dragon crooned, and Jesse seemed frozen.

 

So did everyone else.

 

“He did it…” Gabriel whispered, as tears began to roll down Jesse’s cheeks and he clung to his baby dragon, who crooned with pure joy at the joining of their minds together.

 

Jesse’s head lifted for a moment and his dark eyes, wet with joyous tears, met Gabriel’s.

 

The baby brown dragon in his arms looked his way too, before he turned back to his new rider, yellow and red beginning to swirl in his eyes as he broadcasted his hunger.

 

Slowly the final pair left the Sands, and happily the Weyr residents followed, looking forward to the Feast and dancing to follow a successful Hatching.

 

The crowds melted away, and only then did Gabriel turn to look at Jack.

 

His best friend stared at him, fury in his gaze, and then, seemingly unable to speak he stormed past him, checking his shoulder as he went.

 

Leaving Gabriel alone to flop on the Stand seats and let out a whooshing breath.

 

((You’re in trouble.)) Reyesath warned him quietly, ((What do you think Morrisoth’s will do?))

 

Gabriel shook his head, unable to answer. He wasn’t sure what Jack would do now to punish him for what he’d done…but he knew one thing. Jesse was safe for now. Not even Jack would mess with a Weyrling, not with the bond so new. They were too few, too precious to turn their noses up even to an unconventional rider.

 

Gabriel would be the one to pay the price. But as he listened to Reyesath relay the happiness from Jesse’s brown, he smiled.

 

It was worth it.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is just the first installment of Overwatch Pern. I plan on writing so much more of this.
> 
> 1\. Talon is the Telgari Weyr...their Weyrleader is Akande.
> 
> 2\. Gabriel's Wing is called Blackwing.
> 
> All the characters fit in in my head. It's glorious. So prepare for more adventures.
> 
> If you have any particular Characters you'd like to see, please let me know! I'm open to requests.


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